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March 11, 2022
Challenge-Response – How Russia Is Countering ‘Western’ Moves Against It

Challenge:

March 3: Zelensky says 16,000 foreigners have volunteered to fight for Ukraine against Russian invasion

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said that 16,000 foreigners have volunteered to fight for Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

In an emotional video posted to his Telegram channel, Zelensky referred to the “international legion” of 16,000 foreign volunteers he has sought to “join the defense of Ukraine, Europe and the world.” The country earlier this week temporarily lifted visa requirements for foreign volunteers who wish to enter the country and join the fight against Russian forces.

March 8: 450 Arab and foreign extremists from Idlib arrive in Ukraine

Close to 450 extremist Arab and foreign nationals have arrived in Ukraine from Idlib to fight against Russia's forces, less than only three days after they left Syria, passing through Turkey.

Relatives of extremists that have arrived in Ukraine told Sputnik that senior fighters from terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (the rebranded version of Jabhat Al-Nusra, i.e Al-Qaeda) have held a number of meetings with senior leaders in the Turkistan Islamic Party group and Ansar Al-Tawhid and Hurras al-Din groups, and agreed on allowing a number of all their fighters to enter Ukraine through Turkish soil.

Response:

March 11: President of Russia: Meeting with permanent members of Security Council

Sergei Shoigu: We are receiving a huge number of requests from all manner of volunteers from different countries, who would like to come to the Lugansk and Donetsk people’s republics to take part in the liberation movement, as they say. The largest number of requests, over 16,000, has come from the Middle East. We believe that we should grant these requests, especially since the matter does not concern money but a genuine desire of these people. We know many of them; they helped us fight ISIS in the most difficult period, during the past 10 years.
…
Vladimir Putin: All right, thank you very much.

Regarding the mobilisation of mercenaries from all over the world and sending them to Ukraine. We can see that Ukraine’s Western sponsors and the Ukrainian regime are not concealing this fact. They are doing this openly and neglecting norms of international law. So, if you see that some volunteers would like to come and help the people in Donbass, especially without pay, then we should meet them halfway and help them relocate to the war zone.

I am sure that the fighters from Syria and elsewhere who will fight on Russia's side will get some pay from this or that sponsor, most likely Iran. Some Russian billionaire may also be willing to chip in. But it is important for Putin to show that these are not mercenaries like those on the other side – thus no official pay.

There was an additional challenge-response pair with regards to Ukraine.

Shoigu also mentioned all the foreign weapon deliveries the Ukraine has received. He told Putin that the Russian forces had captured large amounts of heavy and light weapons including U.S. derived Javelin and Stinger missiles. He proposed to give those to the militia of the Donbas republics.

Putin agreed with that.

A third challenge-response is the immense number of forces NATO currently mobilizes and moves towards its eastern border. Shoigu thinks that NATO plans for those troops to stay there forever. He will soon propose a new arrangement of Russian forces to potentially counter them.

Putin said that he would decide that separately. A few hours later he had a meeting with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. The two likely discussed the stationing of Russian troops and weapons like air defense and missile artillery systems in Belarus. That would make any potential NATO move more complicate.

In the above challenge-response pairs the Russian response is symmetric to the challenge. Foreign fighters versus foreign fighters, weapon deliveries versus weapon deliveries, and troops movements versus troop movements.

The challenges Russia has not yet responded too are the myriad sanctions the 'west' has enacted against it. There the responses can only be asymmetric.

I wonder why Putin is waiting to make them public. Does he want to keep them in reserve?

Posted by b on March 11, 2022 at 14:48 UTC | Permalink
Comments

On patents…
The inventor of the 2-way radio got a US patent shortly after WW2. This was a huge improvement over the 1-way radio [wherein a speaker had to say “over” to then allow the other party to talk, etc]. This became the telephone that could be used over a long distance if mated to a relay tower…then later using a network of relay towers became the cell-phone!
The inventor was then visited by some very confident guys with a known reputation for getting what they wanted. They informed the patent-holder to assign his patent over to them…or else his children would be at risk. He assigned the patent as requested which, IIRC, ended up in the hands of some big corp. in Schaumberg, Il.
So there’s that.
The inventor’s son wrote a self-published book]let] about it. BTW, his WW2- radioman-in-the-Pacific dad figured-out very quickly when Admiral Yamamoto was killed that the Japanese codes were broken.

Posted by: chu teh | Mar 12 2022 8:35 utc | 301

With all the talk about the US sending more advanced weapons to Ukraine I was reminded of this hilarious dick waving episode:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Salute_to_America

Posted by: too scents | Mar 12 2022 8:42 utc | 302

Posted by: chu teh | Mar 12 2022 8:35 utc | 295
Read how RCA CEO David Sarnoff drove superheterodyne and FM radio inventor Edwin H. Armstrong to suicide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Howard_Armstrong

Posted by: too scents | Mar 12 2022 8:47 utc | 303

Dadda | Mar 12 2022 4:15 utc | 264
The Orbital drones bear absolutely no relationship to the original Orbital Engine. They are essentially conventional 2-strokes engines with Orbital’s injection system.

Posted by: Cossack | Mar 12 2022 9:00 utc | 304

wow
censorship is somewhat akin to book burning is it not…. putting things permanently ‘down the memory hole’
Where and How will it end?
The US-centralized Empire has lost its mind, and since it cannot argue reasonably and rationally and present cogent, intelligent and wise decision making nor sensible explanations for its irrational and criminal behavior around the world, it of necessity has to censor any opposing or contradictory views. And keep its own people in the dark. (Caitlan J. from Down Under does such a better job than I do writing about this type of thing, too)
https://twitter.com/dancohen3000/status/1502370182966259714
Today, YouTube extended its ban on RT to the entire world.
The US government and Silicon Valley are a global censorship machine, dedicated to creating war propaganda, stamping out dissent and erasing memory.
AND, speaking of censorship gone amok:
https://twitter.com/leftiblog/status/1502489300973228034
Horrific and disgusting. The equivalent of book burning, the hallmark of fascists everywhere.
https://twitter.com/leftiblog/status/1502489300973228034
All 550 episodes of @AbbyMartin ’s legendary show Breaking The Set have just been deleted by YouTube ☹️ plz let us know if you know of them being archived anywhere

Posted by: michaelj72 | Mar 12 2022 9:09 utc | 305

@ Cossack 298
The original post was about the engine not the injection system.

Posted by: Dadda | Mar 12 2022 9:12 utc | 306

Posted by: michaelj72 | Mar 12 2022 9:09 utc | 299
The censors have clearly never hear of accelerationism.
They should censor more and more so that everybody learns.

Posted by: too scents | Mar 12 2022 9:16 utc | 307

Seer | Mar 12 2022 6:18 utc | 281
“It’s all a big show to round up all the neo-Nazi extremists into one location, Ukraine of course. It’s a big project. Russia is being commissioned to “deal” with them. Russia will be economically rewarded using indirect payment via forced price increases on commodities that Russia sells- “sanctions” is the cover name…”
If the Davos cabal and the empire wanted to get rid of the nazis, the best way to do so would be not to create them in the first place.
But it’s incontrovertible that they now are using the war propaganda as the means to generate as many nazis as possible and as much tacit support for nazism, as far and wide as possible.
(Characteristically, the propaganda is far more virulent within the US poodles of Europe and Canada than within the US itself.)

Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Mar 12 2022 9:35 utc | 308

well, I live in the U.S. so I don’t know for sure, but it is hard to believe that the propaganda outside the US (in the West) is more virulent than the propaganda here. I think it was psychohistorian who referred to it as a vomit of propaganda, which I think is a better description than tsunami. I really don’t know how to describe it, it is the information war equivalent of shock and awe in Iraq. I’m shocked and numbed, and just looking for ways to avoid it, but there are no bomb shelters, and it is everywhere.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 12 2022 9:41 utc | 309

Suzy McHale | Mar 12 2022 5:15 utc | 274
I’m a Russophile and have no problems with stating my support for Russia, but a lot of Australians are shit-scared of saying what they think. A good friend, and business partner, won’t say boo about Russia, because the companies that he supplies to have told him, that they will find new suppliers. The only people that I know, who aren’t scared. are retirees, who don’t give a shit!

Posted by: Cossack | Mar 12 2022 9:44 utc | 310

Dadda | Mar 12 2022 9:12 utc | 300
Nd no-one ended up using the flawed engine design, but the improved injection system is in use.

Posted by: Cossack | Mar 12 2022 9:45 utc | 311

Posted by: Cossack | Mar 12 2022 9:44 utc | 304
I am curious, did they tell him that in response to things he did tell those particular suppliers about Russia? Or did they just tell him preemptively for some reason that they would find new suppliers if he said something positive about Russia?

Posted by: Unnamed | Mar 12 2022 9:48 utc | 312

@Posted by: K | Mar 12 2022 6:27 utc | 284
My WhatsApp channel with all my aussie friends are full of anti-Russian memes. The echo chamber is working at full tilt.
its more that they get upset when challenged to think deeply.
Its more than that. Its slacktivism, its virtue signaling, its tribal power. Its safe to be amongst the herd. It can even make you popular, even though they’re just regurgitating without thought or added value.
Today they are sending out articles and stories about children’s of oligarchs making statements on hating putin as validation. It doesn’t seem to compute for them that they are only talking because their lives of chalets, yachts and the highlife are under threat. Today they are champions of all that’s good? Seriously….
Let’s face it, the foundation on the info war in the west was laid decades ago. Theres no hope for us to win. Not from insides their borders anyway.
I won’t be waiting for apologies LOL but I’ll be happy if they can accept the reality instead of continuing to deny.
Like an any dystopian regime, that’ll will only happen there are sufficient contradiction between what they are told and what they can see around them. We are very far away from that. Life will have to get a lot more difficult for the west for this to begin. In order words, things need to get a lot worse before it can get better.
The best thing to happen is for the west to further sanction itself and isolate at its own expense. If rest of the world can continue to move forward and live a good life, the cracks will come, and reality will eventually dawn on them.

Posted by: A.L. | Mar 12 2022 9:49 utc | 313

K | Mar 12 2022 6:27 utc | 284
“its not so much that people necessarily believe the BS coming out of media, its more that they get upset when challenged to think deeply. Most of them are overwhelmed just surviving , young children, not enough money etc and they don’t want to know about politics at home or overseas.
They do parrot the talking points but that’s about it. So it’s possible that when push comes to shove not as many “minds and hearts” are won over as might appear…”
I’ve long thought this is the key to understanding first the Covidian mass insanity and now the Russophobic mass insanity:
In both cases we have the existing free-floating mass psychosis arising from extreme yet inchoate fear over personal and general economic collapse, along with cultural, spiritual and biological decadence. The atoms captured by this mass psychosis are completely spent psychologically, really are incapable of rational thought let alone debate, and so they’ve latched onto these two propaganda narratives launched by the elites.
These two narratives have satisfied the basic psychological need of the psychotic mass:
1. They focus all fear on one enemy (“Covid”, “Russia”, often a combination of the two);
2. Promise that total obedience to the diktats of the authorities and personal crimestop vs. any kind of alternative thinking will defeat this enemy;
3. The defeat of this particular enemy will also exorcize all demons of fear and bring utopia (this part is more implicit);
4. The propaganda machine, now encompassing all system institutions – international, governmental, media, NGO, academia etc. – drives this message with extreme aggression, volume, censorship and intimidation, the very firm hand the masses in their total mental and spiritual exhaustion now crave.
Given this state, it follows that no amount of “rational” argument will or even can change anything. The only possible counteraction is an equally clear message presented with an equally firm hand, but which better will meet the psychological need of the mass.
Since the economic blowback from the sanctions will immiserate vast swaths of the western masses, it follows that this firm, simple counter-message must focus on how western governments and institutions have brought this economic destruction upon their own people through their own mode of economic warfare; that although the governments and institutions claim this economic warfare is against the Russians, it is really economic war against the peoples of the West themselves.
As for whether or not this economic devastation of the peoples of the West is a deliberate goal of the US empire, a deliberate “great reset” program out of Davos etc., that doesn’t really matter. Regardless of globalist and imperial intent, this is the objective effect. So how to present the message, to accuse them of deliberate malice and/or gross stupidity and incompetence, is a matter of tactics.

Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Mar 12 2022 9:59 utc | 314

Scuppers | Mar 12 2022 2:51 utc | 253
“I’ve been thinking that it is entirely possible that the wests rapidity has outrun Putin’s own actions. For example, he probably thought to end fuel shipments and trade with the US; we’ll they did it for him. He probably thought to do the same to the EU; well, let’s wait and see if they do it for him as it’s still early days. He might have thought to stop shipping uranium to the US. Well the US effectively sanctioned itself… what ship is going to carry the cargo now? Russian ships are not allowed in the USA, and by reciprocity, US ships are not allowed in Russia. So essentially, the west keeps stepping on the same rake, and Russia doesn’t have to do anything. They have the luxury of waiting until the west runs out of sanctionable things, stew in its own mess, and then Russia can sanction what the west is afraid to sanction. So, Russia could be following 2 principles: don’t interrupt your enemy when he’s making mistakes; and observe and adapt.”
It’s a given that imperial propaganda for domestic consumption will try to blame all the blowback from its own sanctions program on the Russians. Therefore it’s clear that the main task of anti-imperialists within the empire, such as most of us commenters here, is to do all we can to counteract this propaganda line and make sure the western masses place the blame where it belongs, on their own governments.
Teaching about the post-soviet history of Russo-Ukrainian relations, the history of Ukrainian nazism, Putin’s truly saintly patience for so many years and the righteousness of Russia’s 2022 action, are worthy in themselves but as a practical matter are secondary to making the imperial institutions take the blame for domestic economic disaster.
(One thing that makes this not just necessary but elegant is that it doesn’t require that one agree with any inherent righteousness of Russia or its actions, but only that the empire is stupid and evil and must come down.)

Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Mar 12 2022 10:01 utc | 315

reality will eventually dawn … Posted by: A.L. | Mar 12 2022 9:49 utc | 307
Absurdity will lead to excellent results.
The White House is briefing TikTok stars about the war in Ukraine.

Posted by: too scents | Mar 12 2022 10:03 utc | 316

pretzelattack | Mar 12 2022 9:41 utc | 303
“well, I live in the U.S. so I don’t know for sure, but it is hard to believe that the propaganda outside the US (in the West) is more virulent than the propaganda here.”
All of the more extreme examples I’m hearing of are coming from Europe and Canada.
In NJ where I live I see little of it personally. There’s lots of expatriate Poles and Russians around here, including within my hiking group where I have several friends from either place (eastern Europeans love to hike – I also know Belorussians and Hungarians, though no Ukrainians I can think of), and there’s been little propaganda spewing and no personal expressions of enmity.
I’m also not hearing much of such extremism elsewhere in the US.

Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Mar 12 2022 10:15 utc | 317

ok what is an extreme example? cause i hear about “genocidal Putin” and “monstrous genocidal Russia” all the time, on msm, and then people in the street have absorbed it and repeat it endlessly. i live in a large city in Texas and it is just everywhere, social media, the local rag, news, all kinds of social groups and hobbyist groups (I don’t hike so maybe that is an exception, but the most ardent hiker I know lives in Colorado and believes everything he hears on MSNBC).

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 12 2022 10:26 utc | 318

Unnamed | Mar 12 2022 9:48 utc | 306
In the food industry, everyone knows everyone else. Me being involved in the company can cause dramas. Most big companies say “Yes, Sir, No, Sir” to the Government.

Posted by: Cossack | Mar 12 2022 10:27 utc | 319

There the responses can only be asymmetric.
I wonder why Putin is waiting to make them public. Does he want to keep them in reserve?
Posted by b on March 11, 2022 at 14:48 UTC | Permalink
I disagree. To end the reign of the $$$ is more than symmetric. Maybe it is what you meant by “asymmetric”!?
There is no urgency. Everything will come soon enough. A new world order is about to be born.

Posted by: Olivier | Mar 12 2022 10:32 utc | 320

@karlof1
thank you for your hat important supplement. indeed Japan’s industry was vitalized by supplying the Korean war. and bringing up the Asian financial crisis. Chinese analysts often contextualize that crisis explicitly as among a cycle and series of US ‘harvesting’, implying financial colonialism, whereas ‘crisis’ is more like a euphemism, as if were a natural disaster instead of orchestrated. likewise, with the current plummeting of the ruble, now the second time it’s been done in recent years.
@C Khosta
reminding us of west Germany is germane indeed to the topic. I myself often forget it was occupied for so long, in various forms. I guess it’s not foremost in my mind when I think of Germany because that’s not how the empire narrative describes it. yet it is so relevant to understanding the present context.

Posted by: mastameta | Mar 12 2022 10:35 utc | 321

Has any german barfly a link to the german journalist in Donetzk, Anna Link, who’s streams and chanels seem suppressed by google & co?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aImzD1lptJI&t=185s

Posted by: njet | Mar 12 2022 10:37 utc | 322

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 12 2022 2:14 utc | 241
Chinese are notorious with little education about computers and wide-spread piracy.
When every software you get are from unknown shady markets – you would get lot of viruses “bundled” in it, and even if not – you would not cherish it and would not “work safe” in future, makign your computers a real zoo of viruses, etc.
We in Russia were the same in 1990-s. But hopefully became a bit better since them.
So, yes, a lot of spam and botnets come from non-mantined Chinese computers.
Even many mobile phones, smart or not, come with viruses pre-programmed into them.
Since phones today are branded OEMs from China it becomes a problem…

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 12 2022 10:47 utc | 323

Posted by: mastameta | Mar 12 2022 10:35 utc | 315
I believe when the Chinese speak of harvesting, as the final stage of a cycle of financial exploitation of non-Western countries, they refer to the strengthening the dollar (or equivalently, weakening the exchange rate of non-Western states), which increases the burden of non-Western countries’ dollar-denominated obligations to the West, through the IMF or directly. In this “harvest” the US in particular can then force those countries, now unable to service their debts, to sell off their domestic industry and infrastructure. This does not apply to what is currently done to Russia, which since 2014 has disposed of most of its foreign debt, especially that denominated in Western currencies.

Posted by: Unnamed | Mar 12 2022 10:54 utc | 324

Interesting article by Thierry Meyssan
Russia declares war on the Straussians
Russia is not waging war on the Ukrainian people, but on a small group of people within the US power that has transformed Ukraine without its knowledge, the Straussians. It formed half a century ago and has already committed an incredible amount of crimes in Latin America and the Middle East without the knowledge of the United States. This is their story.
At dawn on February 24, Russian forces entered Ukraine en masse. According to President Vladimir Putin, speaking on television at the time, this special operation was the beginning of his country’s response to “those who aspire to world domination” and who are advancing Nato’s infrastructure to his country’s doorstep. During this long speech, he summarized how NATO destroyed Yugoslavia without the authorization of the United Nations Security Council, even bombing Belgrade in 1999. Then he perused the destruction of the United States in the Middle East, in Iraq, Libya and Syria. Only after this lengthy presentation did he announce that he had sent his troops to Ukraine with the dual mission of destroying the Nato-linked armed forces and ending the Nato armed neo-Nazi groups.
Link to Article

Posted by: teal | Mar 12 2022 10:55 utc | 325

Thinking about it: were the USA ever brought to justice for their crimes against humanity in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Not to spreak about Korea, Vietnam and the Middle East? And so on.

Posted by: Olivier | Mar 12 2022 10:55 utc | 326

this is sort of interesting, the first example of somebody in the msm that i have seen admitting the US is at least partially responsible for the war.
https://www.newsweek.com/us-nato-helped-trigger-ukraine-war-its-not-siding-putin-admit-it-opinion-1685554
the guy is from the Cato Institute.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 12 2022 10:56 utc | 327

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 12 2022 10:56 utc | 321
Ted Galen Carpenter regularly publishes at antiwar.org and is a pleasure to read. I don’t think you can classify him as MSM though.

Posted by: Boo | Mar 12 2022 11:02 utc | 328

the first example of somebody in the msm that i have seen admitting the US is at least partially responsible
Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 12 2022 10:56 utc | 321
2 or 3 days ago some articles in UK newspapers started appear
Remember stages of the grief? that is bargaining stage, “partially responsible, ok, will 1% part sooth evil Russians? no? then what about 1.1%?”

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 12 2022 11:02 utc | 329

@ Arioch that’s a very apt comparison.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 12 2022 11:12 utc | 330

2 or 3 days ago some articles in UK newspapers started appear
Posted by: Arioch | Mar 12 2022 11:02 utc | 323
—
It is a long climb down for the Brits. Their media is by far the most shrill. Thoroughly buggered by Perfidious Albion.

Posted by: too scents | Mar 12 2022 11:14 utc | 331

@ Boo yeah, I wouldn’t count antiwar.com as being in the mainstream. Newsweek has faded, it along with Time magazine were at one point the most influential media organizations in the US, but I think it still qualifies. I don’t have a precise definition of what is mainstream or not, but all the usual suspects qualify (MSNBC,CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, Fox for the most part) saying pretty much the same thing with regard to this war. maybe guys like this would be allowed on MSNBC as long as there are several “experts” there to argue against it. that was the format that NBC pushed on Donahue back during the buildup of Iraq–they insisted that if he had a guest that questioned the need for attacking Iraq, he had to have at least 2 guests that supported it. he refused that condition, and his top rated show was taken off the air.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 12 2022 11:19 utc | 332

Posted by: Olivier | Mar 12 2022 10:55 utc | 320
That’s the fate… Where is my devil, i gonna advocate for him.
At the time of Hiroshima and Nagasaki it was not considered “crime against humanity” and probably there was even no such notion (was it not coined in Nuremberg Trial?). Long-term consequences of nuclear weapon were not researched yet too – just reading how world best scientists were assembling those bombs and dying from that reveals how little of dangers were known/accounted for then.
The Tokyo Fire and Dresden Fire were much more cruel actions than now-dreaded Hiroshima: those bombings were no less acts of terror and their consequences were not just expected but pre-planned.
But then, Japanese were not known for human kinds of warfare too. They and USians were quite peers there.
Japanese were ardent researchers of bio-warfare and then in 1945 USians unleashed bio-warware against them (USian bio-weapons were not against humans but against rice crops, however would not Japan capitulated and beg for food imports from USA their losses to the induced famine would probably be no less).

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 12 2022 11:19 utc | 333

pretzelattack | Mar 12 2022 10:56 utc (321)
Cato Institute held that view weeks ago. As for UK press that is owned by 4 groups – all of whom reside abroad. Daily Mail Group – Lord Rothemere lives in France; Murdoch Group – he lives in USA; Independent & Evening Standard – Lebedev First Directorate KGB lives in Russia; Reach Plc is owned by Mutual Funds.
SkyTV is owned by Comcast of USA.
They probably notice public turnoff from “Surround-AgitProp Covid Meets Russia”……..it has been a “Save the Boris Whale” Moment before the May Council elections which serve as a “Midterm” in UK and the huge tax increases coming in in April just as energy and food prices explode.
It is so contrived. With a fat bloated Billy Bunter figure acting like Horatio Bottomley UK is paraded as a basket case country – something confirmed by its Halfwit Foreign Minister – there is no joy in UK – simply disgust, revulsion, and fear

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Mar 12 2022 11:20 utc | 334

propogandized or not, if you hate the people that created dersu-uzala, you deserve everything that is coming to you. a homeless person is tragedy, a homeless person holding a “fuck china” sign is natural selection.

Posted by: dersu-uzala | Mar 12 2022 11:20 utc | 335

Posted by: dersu-uzala | Mar 12 2022 11:20 utc | 329
“If you hate the people who created dersu-uzala”? (To make it extra weird, also your own handle.) Could be a little bit less cryptic please?

Posted by: Unnamed | Mar 12 2022 11:26 utc | 336

Posted by: Cossack | Mar 12 2022 10:27 utc | 313
I feel you bro. Its very hard to convey the sadness, anger and betrayal unless it has happened to you personally.
Stay strong, don’t stick out. There’s no shame in it for now is not the right time for their deprogramming.

Posted by: A.L. | Mar 12 2022 11:29 utc | 337

@330 handle is just a throwaway. nothing cryptic about it, it is just my failure at english grammar. i am not russian. and “dersu uzala” is the greatest story on friendship.

Posted by: dersu-uzala | Mar 12 2022 11:32 utc | 338

Dersu Uzala (Der-SOO Ooza-LAH; Russian: Дерсу Узала; 1849–1908) was a Nanai trapper and hunter. He worked as a guide for Vladimir Arsenyev who immortalized him in his 1923 book Dersu Uzala. The book was adapted into two feature films, with the version by Akira Kurosawa being the better known.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dersu_Uzala
But much more here: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D1%83_%D0%A3%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B0
However what one might mean about “those who created” is a bit cryptic.
If he means Japanese – then one has to remember that ethics of Japanese Nobility is development of one of their predecessors: roaming cannibals opf Polinesia. And that shows, it is thrilling but cruel one.

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 12 2022 11:34 utc | 339

Posted by: dersu-uzala | Mar 12 2022 11:32 utc | 332
I understand, and my post was not meant as a jab at your handle. I was just very confused what you are getting at. Who are you referring to as the people hating Dersu Uzala? I googled the name and found out that he was a trapper featured in a Soviet-Japanese film directed by Kurosawa. Has that movie received negative attention during all of this, been boycotted or the like?

Posted by: Unnamed | Mar 12 2022 11:35 utc | 340

@334 kurosawa is the director, dersu uzala the book by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Arsenyev

Posted by: dersu-uzala | Mar 12 2022 11:40 utc | 341

@Paul Greenwood, yeah Cato held the position weeks ago, but I didn’t see any articles on that position in the MSM. I doubt it is going to be significant, it may well end up with Newsweek apologizing for allowing the article to be published in the first place. That German general springs to mind, who was forced to resign after saying something sensible about Russia.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 12 2022 11:43 utc | 342

@333 why would you even consider i meant japanese at a time like this where everything russian/soviet is banned and hated. did you check the title of the topic we are posting? 🙂

Posted by: dersu-uzala | Mar 12 2022 11:50 utc | 343

@ Flying Dutchman | 311
Sometimes it is not whether there is extremism in propaganda around you or not, but what if you want to tell the people around you that what they have been reading is nothing but lies. In this case, you are the one who will be labeled as the person with extremist view. I have always been careful how to deliver my point about the American war in Syria and Iraq, because giving it straight in a blunt way simply does not work here.
I am in China now and I have both Chinese and European friends. It happened last week that I was sitting in a table discussing the current situation with them. I was going back and forth from turning left to talk to Chinese in Chinese who are 100% pro-Russians, and then turning right to talk to Europeans who are 100% anti-Russians. Luckily most foreigners in China are clueless in the Chinese language.

Posted by: Man | Mar 12 2022 11:50 utc | 344

Posted by: dersu-uzala | Mar 12 2022 11:50 utc | 337
I think I now understand your point, you meant hatred toward Russians in general. I completely agree. Westerners being “propagandized” is absolutely no excuse, especially when this propaganda merely exploits and activates deep-seated anti-Russian sentiment that has been endemic in the West for many centuries. It in many ways merely tells Westerners what they want to hear about Russia.

Posted by: Unnamed | Mar 12 2022 11:59 utc | 345

Have you noticed how many people in this thread are already talking as if they are political dissidents in a totalitarian regime? Afraid, confused, terrified of what is going to happen next (with reason). For better or for worse (let’s face it, for worse), the power at the moment lies with the Bad Guys in Washington. This is just the beginning, and the American Empire is now throwing off its democratic veneer (never that convincing to begin with) and openly becoming a dictatorship (or a ‘genuine’ Empire). This is the way the old Roman Republic ended.
Please remember that if the CIA ‘discover’ a ‘plot’ by ‘Trumpists’ to ‘stage a coup d’etat’ and that therefore, regrettably the next election will ‘have to be’ temporarily delayed until ‘we work out just what’s going on’ (to coin a phrase) 100% of American liberals would go alone with that. They nearly had a nervous breakdown over the last election (and the one before). They don’t want elections. They would rather white male middle class ‘liberals’ like Fauci just told them what to do.
Please remember that this 1933-like moment is just getting started. This is just the beginning. If (and I’m tempted to say when) open warfare breaks out between Russia and the US (as opposed to the covert war being waged right now) martial law will be declared and 80 percent minimum of American and European ‘liberals’ will go along with that.
As I said before, I hope ‘b.’ has alternative options if Moon of Alabam is taken off the internet as well as other sources of income (of course he might be arrested and sent to a re-education camp, which would solve that problem).

Posted by: Hidari | Mar 12 2022 12:02 utc | 346

Posted by: Hidari | Mar 12 2022 12:02 utc | 340
You need tor read The Telegraph opinion page and relax.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/

Posted by: too scents | Mar 12 2022 12:11 utc | 347

“EU leaders plan to collectively rearm and become autonomous in food, energy and military hardware in a declaration after their meeting at Versailles that described Russia’s war as “a tectonic shift in European history”. guardian
I think this is significant. As much as this is directed towards Russia, it is also directed against their pimp

Posted by: Milos | Mar 12 2022 12:19 utc | 348

The dollar, however, will be hard to overcome. The might of the world’s pre-eminent economic and military power ensures that US Treasury bonds are stable in a crisis; the US Federal Reserve ensures they are liquid. During any kind of economic turmoil, they are the asset a central bank wants to hold. Indeed, if Russia was suffering a natural disaster or an unexpected collapse in exports, dollar reserves would be exactly what it wanted too.
Other alternatives have defects of their own. Russia has a lot of gold. The problem is liquidity: what bank today will lend foreign currency against the security of bullion in a Moscow bank vault? In time, Russia may be able to sell some gold to friendly countries, but in effect the market has already passed its judgment: it does not think Russia’s gold reserves can support the rouble.
Russia has something more valuable than gold…. Oil/gas/uranium…. energy…
Should Russia insist upon selling it’s exports for Roubles… only…. paying for it’s imports in Roubles…. only
EXCEPT…The dollar, however, will be hard to overcome. The might of the world’s pre-eminent economic and military power ensures that US Treasury bonds are stable in a crisis; the US Federal Reserve ensures they are liquid. During any kind of economic turmoil, they are the asset a central bank wants to hold. Indeed, if Russia was suffering a natural disaster or an unexpected collapse in exports, dollar reserves would be exactly what it wanted too.
Other alternatives have defects of their own. Russia has a lot of gold. The problem is liquidity: what bank today will lend foreign currency against the security of bullion in a Moscow bank vault? In time, Russia may be able to sell some gold to friendly countries, but in effect the market has already passed its judgment: it does not think Russia’s gold reserves can support the rouble.
To those countries with which it has a currency swap arrangement..
Russia could demand specie as payment for Roubles….. possibly accept the dollar/euro at disadvantegous rates….
Require pre-payment for exports…. except to friendly countries of course…
Would make the USD/EUR much less valuable…
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George Oprisko | Mar 12 2022 12:23 utc | 349

does anybody know how Charles DeGaulle is currently regarded in France? cause damn he was right to withdraw from NATO, right about the privilege of the US dollar, and right about opposing the US in Vietnam.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 12 2022 12:24 utc | 350

To return to the subject of the thread (sorry but some bar flies have an annoying habit of just going on and on about their favourite subjects) I think that an additional reason for the Russians not being in a hurry to announce counter sanctions is that they benefit from the rally in the raw materials markets, and that rally is driven not by shortages but by uncertainty.

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Mar 12 2022 12:28 utc | 351

Posted by: Milos | Mar 12 2022 12:19 utc | 342
Interesting! Where did you find that?

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Mar 12 2022 12:31 utc | 352

2Milos that’s a good point. and hmm would mean the numerous US military bases in Germany would no longer be required. and then the US would lose its most stable forward base against Russia–putting the interests of a unified europe in direct opposition to the interests of the people who run the United States. and that could wind up pushing Europe toward Russia, depending on what the US does.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 12 2022 12:35 utc | 353

#346 Jorgen
In Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/12/russia-ukraine-war-update-what-we-know-on-day-17-of-the-russian-invasion?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Posted by: Milos | Mar 12 2022 12:41 utc | 354

Europe rearmed, independent in energy and food will leave “The Sick Man on Potomac” pretty lonely ☹️.

Posted by: Milos | Mar 12 2022 12:47 utc | 355

Posted by: Milos | Mar 12 2022 12:47 utc | 349
A EU openly striving for independence. Interesting fallout. The rhetoric is aimed at Russia, but the measures apply equally to the US. I mean, they openly talk about military hardware, and the dependence on Russian military hardware (apart from the odd Polish Mig 29) is nill. As for US hardware — there’s a lot more of that laying around here.

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Mar 12 2022 13:26 utc | 356

.

Posted by: Fred | Mar 12 2022 13:27 utc | 357

russia’s deputy foreign minister just said that nato weapons supplies and their “corresponding convoys” are now legitimate targets, and warned that america will face “consequences” if they continue.
i’m not sure this statement is getting the attention it deserves. ignoring it would be the gravest of mistakes.

Posted by: line islands | Mar 12 2022 13:29 utc | 358

to be clear, russia was talking about nato supplies of weapons to ukraine. it seems to me from the statement that russia means the convoys wherever they are, and it’s also certainly threatening “consequences” against america.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/12/russia-ukraine-war-news-live-updates/#link-WSGGOU6IHZEPZMRYGADA4FAOIY

Posted by: line islands | Mar 12 2022 13:32 utc | 359

@352
We are possibly weeks away from nuclear war and no one seems to care (or even to have noticed).

Posted by: Hidari | Mar 12 2022 13:34 utc | 360

@354. correct. and unless russia’s bluffing, or not really referring to hitting the convoys inside nato countries, which i sincerely doubt, i don’t see escalation being avoided, as i don’t see the u.s. and nato ceasing the weapons shipments to ukraine.

Posted by: line islands | Mar 12 2022 13:37 utc | 361

in fact, nato weapons shipments to ukraine are set to drastically increase. “Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the United States is committed to arming the government in Kyiv with ‘the kinds of capabilities that we know the Ukrainians need and are using very well.’ He declined to specify what types of weapons could be included in the next wave of shipments.”

Posted by: line islands | Mar 12 2022 13:40 utc | 362

line islands | Mar 12 2022 13:29 utc | 352
Hidari | Mar 12 2022 13:34 utc | 354
An interesting sound bite I pulled from the wikipedia entry on dystopia.
Dystopias are often characterized by rampant fear or distress,[3] tyrannical governments, environmental disaster,[4] or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. Distinct themes typical of a Dystopian Society include: complete control over the people in a society through the usage of propaganda, heavy censoring of information or denial of free thought, worshiping an unattainable goal, the complete loss of individuality, and heavy enforcement of conformity.[8]
Dystopia is very much the’free’ west.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 12 2022 13:46 utc | 363

@Flying Dutchman | Mar 12 2022 9:59 utc | 308

I’ve long thought this is the key to understanding first the Covidian mass insanity and now the Russophobic mass insanity

Thank you very much for your post! You have formulated very well what I have been thinking, but I have been unable to formulate it clearly. The understanding of these events as mass psychosis used as a weapon is very important in my opinion.

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 12 2022 13:49 utc | 364

Covid and mRNA vaccines. Our lead in to biological warfare. Mandates and boosters… Those that inoculate with yank big pharma may survive… if staying alive in a dystopian world can be called that.
Russia and China are well aware of US/anglo bio warfare. Russia doing the unexpected has found the smoking gun.
More unexpected to come.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 12 2022 14:03 utc | 365

Dystopia is very much the ‘free’ west.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 12 2022 13:46 utc | 357
—
Director of Trust & Safety at Google, Ben Renda, was employed by NATO as a Strategic Planner & Information Manager.

Posted by: too scents | Mar 12 2022 14:03 utc | 366

Post 308 Flying Dutchman. Excellent analysis. Is it possible to share ?

Posted by: Towey | Mar 12 2022 14:21 utc | 367

Seems to me that the west is determined to hurt itself by any and all means necessary.
Why would Putin rush to interfere with this process?
I’m sure the RF will be able to apply more than reasonable retaliation.

Posted by: Some Random Passerby | Mar 12 2022 14:22 utc | 368

> because the companies that he supplies to have told him, that they will find new suppliers.
And that is our weak spot.
We somehow swallowed that free market is out of politics line, hook and sinker.
But Ust-Luga port brings hope we are starting to remember Realpolitik lessons.

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 12 2022 14:24 utc | 369

I’m fucking sick of this plastering of ukrainian shit all over everywhere.
And I mean it.
The posturing, the flag fetish, the adoration for a backwards, provincial, self-hating people that hasn’t done a single worthwhile thing for anybody else since USSR times.
I’m pretty sure I’m going to come out of this with a long-term disgust for ukrainians and anything ukrainian.
Fucking atlanticist bastards and their fucking shit-eating faces; the first priority for every other political camp from now on should be identifying, displacing and isolating them.

Posted by: Misotheist | Mar 12 2022 14:26 utc | 370

Posted by: Some Random Passerby | Mar 12 2022 14:22 utc | 362
In my armchair strategist position it would be better for Russia just to spend some time lesrning how Wests slides into the abyss. And when it would exhaust itself by this infighting and finally clatch the straw and gain some last feeble equilibrium – then finally calculate and apply countersanctions, cutting that straw, once and forever.
It is cruel, but did West ever had merci to anyone?..

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 12 2022 14:27 utc | 371

@teal | Mar 12 2022 10:55 utc | 319

Interesting article by Thierry Meyssan

Indeed, this should be required reading Russia declares war on the Straussians
In short, the Strussians have been behind many wars and atrocities since the 1970’s (read the article), and were also known as PNAC (Project for the New American Century) that famously in 2000 wanted “a new Pearl Harbor” and got it one year later. To keep it short, they were behind the 2014 Ukraine coup (Victoria Nuland) and my guess these are also the people responsible for MH-370 and MH-17. Now we know Victoria Nuland has admitted involvement in bio-warfare labs in Ukraine up to this day. The Straussians now control the US government via Blinken, Nuland and Jacob Sullivan and others.
There has been talk about possible false flags like Syria style “chemical attacks” that happened when the Syrian Army was winning (so it didn’t make sense). Now that the Russians are winning, the danger of similar false flags in Ukraine is very high.
Given the kind of people behind the Ukraine affair one should not discount the possibility of not just a “minor” false flag, but perhaps even a major one, like 911. Maybe even somewhere else than Ukraine. These people now have their backs against the wall because their crimes are about to be revealed to the whole world. Guess why Russian media are censored?

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 12 2022 14:32 utc | 372

Saker wrote that the propaganda war is irretrievably lost.
Therefore, it is no longer a war; it’s daily overkill. You turn on the tube and you’re instantly assailed and buried by the avalanche of bias coming at you on every channel from all directions. I very rarely even watch regular programming either; as it’s hard to escape the intense reality of the fighting going on in Ukraine, and intensity of the media and economic invasion on Russia. Russia challenged these two by shutting them down temporarily; just like most of us here are doing with the media — shutting it off.
There are only some havens on the web like this one where you can feel hope, and despite having no chance to break through the deafening drumming against Russia, I’m hopeful, because delusion never wins. Delusion is a symptom of running from reality, and instead running towards the edge of the cliff and a catastrophic downfall. What I see is an Empire on the brink of ruin with the correction rumbling underneath like distant P waves predicting a seismic event.
There are two slowly developing game changing dynamics that are being underestimated: the teetering Western economy and the coming full thrust of Russia’s military prowess.
These two forces are seemingly converging to blow up the present oppressive narrative sky high.

Posted by: Circe | Mar 12 2022 14:37 utc | 373

The citizens of most countries don’t give a rat’s ass about what’s going on in some strange country on the other side of the planet. But Americans are expected to be different? Why? . .because the US is the leader of the free world, or some such BS? That ain’t right.
George Washington got it right. In his farewell address Washington urged the American people to take advantage of their isolated position in the world, and to avoid attachments and entanglements in foreign affairs, especially those of Europe, which he argues have little or nothing to do with the interests of America.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Mar 12 2022 14:37 utc | 374

Dear B and Friends,
Since this has been a nice community, I am advising you to get ready for World War III , as we are very close to it. You all need to get prepared, hard times are coming. All the signs are there, as you know the economic war has started and that is the first phase toward the world war. Think about shelter and food and keep up the good attitude and try to help others if you can. I hope we all survive it.

Posted by: Stan | Mar 12 2022 14:40 utc | 375

@Scuppers #253
I disagree.
Russia has been very clear and consistent: they will not unilaterally act on any sanctions. The message all along has been clear: we will not stop shipping energy unless the West decides to break contracts and/or stop paying.
This positioning is not aimed at the US/EU leadership or even necessarily the people in the US/EU – it is aimed at the rest of the world.
It says:
See? We [Russia] are not the ones disrupting the global economic trade flows.
We [Russia] are not the ones responsible for the spikes in energy and food prices; it is the US and EU with its unilateral sanctions that are causing this.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 12 2022 14:43 utc | 376

Americans are expected to be different? Why?
Posted by: Don Bacon | Mar 12 2022 14:37 utc | 368
—
Because Americans instinctively know that the spoils of empire belong to them.

Posted by: too scents | Mar 12 2022 14:43 utc | 377

@pretzelattack #321
Tucker Carlson was saying the US has been provoking Russia since the beginning.
And he is definitely mainstream: the single highest rated news show, period.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 12 2022 14:46 utc | 378

C1ue; the point is despite the US being far superior we lost; that’s what YOU don’t get; you’re counting fucking tanks but again, the US had many more tanks but lost. IF Putin were invading Germany, Russia would lose badly. Just as the US lost to Vietnam, Iraq… Again, NATO is just screwing around, if this were existential for NATO we’d see far more committment more dedication, an entirely different fight.

Posted by: ScottinDallas | Mar 12 2022 14:50 utc | 379

did West ever had merci to anyone?..
Posted by: Arioch | Mar 12 2022 14:27 utc | 365
A brilliant spelling “error” on your part. No, neither thanks nor mercy are in the West’s value system, only entitlement and greed.

Posted by: farm ecologist | Mar 12 2022 14:52 utc | 380

@ too scents 371
Because Americans instinctively know that the spoils of empire belong to them.
You’ve got it backwards. The focus upstairs was on people who are not really interested in foreign affairs and so just rely on same-same media and go back to what they were doing, like putting food on the table.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Mar 12 2022 14:55 utc | 381

@Dr. George Oprisko #343
You said

The dollar, however, will be hard to overcome. The might of the world’s pre-eminent economic and military power ensures that US Treasury bonds are stable in a crisis; the US Federal Reserve ensures they are liquid. During any kind of economic turmoil, they are the asset a central bank wants to hold. Indeed, if Russia was suffering a natural disaster or an unexpected collapse in exports, dollar reserves would be exactly what it wanted too.

The dollar is not hard to overcome in the operational sense; it is hard to overcome in the habit sense.
The reality is that dollar domination arose because the US was literally half the world’s GDP in 1945 and was maintained because the US and EU dominated world GDP until around the 1990s.
However, the US and EU no longer dominate the world GDP – It is China.
As for liquidity – that is nonsense. Every single sovereign nation has 100% liquidity of its own currency unless it accepts limitations imposed from outsiders like the IMF’s infamous austerity regimes.
What you are more likely referring to is the Dollar Swap – basically the ability for ECB and foreign banks to get “free money” from the US in times of financial panic.
However, once again, this is not a unique capability to the dollar.
China has the same capability once its need to address maintaining capital export controls while still being able to issue RMB internationally is addressed.
This is why the e-yuan is such a threat. As I’ve written about numerous times in the past: a digital currency is precisely a way to accomplish the twin goals.
The e-yuan could be printed by the PBOC to foreign CBs without simultaneously enabling mass capital flight from inside China to the myriad tax havens around the world (including the US).
Indeed, the real problem uncovered by the sanctions and confiscation regime enacted by the Five Eyes+EU+Japan is that the blatant misuse of the USD/Washington Consensus financial machinery has exposed it for what it really is: an instrument of power as opposed to some benign manifestation of freedom, democracy and capitalism.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 12 2022 14:56 utc | 382

Holy Cow ! I am shocked to read a well thought out, moderate response on ending the war on National Interest ! Is reason about to make a comeback?
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/how-biden-can-end-war-ukraine-201132?page=0%2C1

Posted by: Eighthman | Mar 12 2022 14:58 utc | 383

did West ever had merci to anyone?..
Posted by: Arioch | Mar 12 2022 14:27 utc | 365
A brilliant spelling “error” on your part. No, neither thanks nor mercy are in the West’s value system, only entitlement and greed.
Posted by: farm ecologist | Mar 12 2022 14:52 utc | 374
Aristocratic classes, anywhere you find them, think themselves entitled to everything they have and anything they want, and the underclasses entitled to only what the aristos want them to have. This is why aristocracies cannot compete with societies that rely and real-world merit, not mere academic credentials. “Never apologize and never explain.” The public at large is viewed in the same way as a farmer views his cattle.

Posted by: Bemildred | Mar 12 2022 14:59 utc | 384

@Stan #369
If you mean nuclear war: I 100% disagree.
There is ZERO indication that the US or EU has any interest or capability in an open outbreak of combat against Russia.
If you mean US/EU sanctions will precipitate a new Cold War: I can agree with that except the economic terms of this new Cold War will be very, very different than the last one. In particular, the US/EU is no longer the Big Brother internationally and can no longer freely bully other countries into doing its bidding, thus isolating the few who openly defy it.
Consider the change from even just the 1970s: In the 1970s, the US and EU were the predominant manufacturing producers in the world. Japan was just starting to become the export power it is today. China was still focused inward and its GDP was tiny.
Does anyone dispute that China rules the manufacturing world today?
That China’s economy is bigger than the EU or US? (but not both)
That the 2nd and 3rd world have grown so much faster than the US and EU that the bulk of world GDP no longer resides in the US+EU?
A new Cold War will have very negative effects, but I see those negative effects more in the US and EU than the rest of the world.
Even then, it isn’t going to be Mad Max or even GFC.
It is going to be 1970s style economic erosion via inflation.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 12 2022 15:03 utc | 385

there is no reason to think the CIA was involved in the Syrian attacks; it’s not the US that would do it here; though the CIA would warn the President of such a possibility, he’s a propaganda target too, THE principal target. And propaganda is a CIA mission; it is likely far removed from the actual assets in any particular theater of operations. We err to think this is ALL coordinated; and of course the Azov/ultra-nationalists have EVERY reason to stage/fake/actually false flag attack; it’s “logical” step to draw help. There are different actors, even in the CIA there are rogue actors, factions that have their own agendas; there is not the command control and responsibility one may expect from a proper military.

Posted by: ScottinDallas | Mar 12 2022 15:04 utc | 386

@ScottinDallas #373
You have your belief, enjoy.
It is not a belief shared by ANYONE except the morons in power in the US.
You have demonstrated zero evidence for your position; merely repeating it over and over does not convince me (or anyone else).

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 12 2022 15:05 utc | 387

Because Americans instinctively know that the spoils of empire belong to them.
Posted by: too scents | Mar 12 2022 14:43 utc |
Or you can just call it the underlying anthem of the USA: pure Greed is good…as long as it’s pure.
Or you can define it as specializing in making the profane, sacred; ergo, God is stamped on every dollar.

Posted by: Circe | Mar 12 2022 15:12 utc | 388

So is “volunteers” a re-labeling of western mercenaries? Who is to they are paid or not and how many.
Russia needs to find a way to deal with javelin and stingers. Would they be better to leave tanks on the garage? The videos of javelins on tanks are disheartening for some.

Posted by: jared | Mar 12 2022 15:14 utc | 389

As widely predicted:
Members of the White Helmets will be sent to Ukraine
“Members of the White Helmets stated about their intentions to provide assistance to Ukraine and send their units here. Against the backdrop of suspicions that the organization may be closely associated with the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization (banned on the territory of Russia – ed. note), this raises a number of questions about what kind of “assistance” to Kiev is in question.”

Posted by: RJ | Mar 12 2022 15:14 utc | 390

Lavrov’s latest Q & A at The Saker
What is interesting is that it is clear that Lavrov is no longer interested in putting up with Western media nonsense.
The circumlocutions and politeness are mostly gone.
Key statements

Turning to the question on whether we intend to attack any other countries: we are not planning to attack other countries. In fact, we did not attack Ukraine, either. We have explained many times that the situation in Ukraine has evolved in such a way that it poses a direct threat to Russia’s security. No one listened despite all our reminders, admonitions, calls and proposals during all these years.
…
Those supplying arms to Ukraine must understand that they bear responsibility for their actions. The same goes for those who encourage sending mercenaries to Ukraine to fight there in keeping with the traditions extreme radicals and their battalions introduced in Ukraine’s everyday life.
…
We had been trying for years to draw attention to the turning of Ukraine into “anti-Russia.” Since the early 2000s, the West openly demanded before every election that Ukraine make a choice between the West and Russia. That is, you are either with us, or against us. Is this the Western values that were being forced on the Ukrainian people?
We have also seen other things. When a pro-Western candidate got the smallest number of votes, as it happened in 2009, the West forced the Ukrainian Constitutional Court to adopt a decision on the third round of voting, in violation of the Constitution of Ukraine. There were a lot of such manipulations in those “best years.” Ukraine was being consistently turned into a pro-Western instrument for Western experiments. Ultimately, NATO demanded that Ukraine must be free to join the bloc, naval bases were being established in Ukraine, and the deployment of missiles, which were a direct threat to the Russian Federation, was discussed. It has now turned out that military biological laboratories were operating there secretly from the public in Ukraine and the rest of the world. When it was suggested that Ukraine should abandon its non-nuclear status, we appealed to the reason and conscience of our Western partners and urged them to coordinate security principles for Europe.
…
As for our economic problems, we will deal with them. We faced difficulties at all stages in our history. I can assure you that this time we will emerge from the crisis with a healthier mindset and mentality. We will have no illusion that the West can be a reliable partner who will not abandon anyone and its own values at the drop of a hat. Could you imagine that private property rights will be buried as easy as one-two-three? Have you ever seen the presumption of innocence, the pillar of the Western legal system, to be openly disregarded and trampled underfoot? I can assure you that we will overcome this. And we will also do everything in our power never to depend on the West in the areas of critical importance for our people.
…
It is not our tradition to run around the world and force sovereign, independent countries, members of the UN, to fulfil the Big Brother’s order. Actually, we are good-mannered people, as you are aware. The Americans do not conceal the fact that they are demanding that Turkey, India, Egypt, Southeast Asian countries and even China join the illegal unilateral US sanctions. It is impossible to imagine such disrespect for these great countries and civilisations. However, the Americans let nothing pass. For them, any means are acceptable to whip up Russophobia to unprecedented heights. We do not do such things.
…
All our admonitions during the eight years since the coup in Kiev and our appeals to our Western colleagues that they should bring the Ukrainian authorities to their senses have run against a dead wall of silence. Take, for example, the most obvious things regarding the Russian language. They have passed the law On Ensuring the Functioning of Ukrainian as the State Language, which declares Ukrainian alone as fit for use, while all other languages are open to prejudice in some way or another, including in terms of teaching them at elementary schools and universities.
…
The West’s attitude towards the referendum in Crimea is also an example of the policy of double standards. There was no referendum in Kosovo. NATO, by its bombing attacks, deliberately created a situation, where it could bring about the disintegration of Yugoslavia. When the Kosovo legislature declared independence, the entire West (almost entire) was applauding and supported this as a manifestation of democracy and freedom of choice. But why can Albanians do it while Russians in Crimea cannot?
…
We have realised that the point at issue is not Ukraine at all. It is an aggression against all things Russian – interests, religion, culture, language, security, etc. The West’s furious reaction to our actions demonstrates that this is a life and death struggle, a struggle for Russia’s right to be on the political map of the world with full respect for its legitimate interests.

The gloves are off.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 12 2022 15:15 utc | 391

Seeing lots of chatter about WHERE negotiations between Russia/Ukraine will take place. Zelensky pushing for direct talks with Putin. Can’t imagine Putin himself would attend as it is too dangerous for him to be in same room with assassins and saboteurs. We can’t forget Empire is going for Russian regime change in all of this.
Does anyone see direct talks with Putin/Ze?
Cheers.

Posted by: gottlieb | Mar 12 2022 15:16 utc | 392

Lavrov latest Q & A: key statements
Link not provided because Saker on block list…

We will have no illusion that the West can be a reliable partner who will not abandon anyone and its own values at the drop of a hat. Could you imagine that private property rights will be buried as easy as one-two-three? Have you ever seen the presumption of innocence, the pillar of the Western legal system, to be openly disregarded and trampled underfoot? I can assure you that we will overcome this. And we will also do everything in our power never to depend on the West in the areas of critical importance for our people.
…
We have realised that the point at issue is not Ukraine at all. It is an aggression against all things Russian – interests, religion, culture, language, security, etc. The West’s furious reaction to our actions demonstrates that this is a life and death struggle, a struggle for Russia’s right to be on the political map of the world with full respect for its legitimate interests.

The gloves are off…

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 12 2022 15:18 utc | 393

Russian forces might start taking out weapons supplies as they enter Ukraine from the West.
“Supplying Ukraine with Western arms only serves to worsen the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Saturday, warning that Russian forces could potentially target such deliveries.
“We have warned the US that pumping up Ukraine with arms from several nations orchestrated by [Washington] is not just a dangerous move but something that makes these [arms] convoys legitimate targets,” Ryabkov told Russia’s Channel One. He did not elaborate on where and when Russia might target the convoys.”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Mar 12 2022 15:19 utc | 394

WHERE negotiations between Russia/Ukraine will take place. Posted by: gottlieb | Mar 12 2022 15:16 utc | 385
On Ukraine’s knees. Any big theater with a clear view. No need for any Russians to attend.

Posted by: too scents | Mar 12 2022 15:26 utc | 395

Daddy’s gone to fight for the Nazi’s, honey.
Well I imagine those people don’t have children that they know of – Biden-ites!

Posted by: jared | Mar 12 2022 15:26 utc | 396

Posted by: ScottinDallas | Mar 12 2022 15:04 utc | 380
There’s plenty of reason to think the CIA was involved, at some level, in every single Syrian false flag attack, and there’s plenty of reason to think that the CIA is involved here.
The CIA set up, funded, armed, and protected ISIS from the beginning. The CIA set up, funded, armed, and protected Azov from the beginning. The CIA has invested lots of $$$ and time into both asset classes; these assets are used to manipulate global crises and global narrative so as to create situations which warrant overt US military action.
Azov at the moment doesn’t have the operational capacity to design or implement a large-scale false flag in Ukraine. But the CIA has operational capacity, and you better believe that there are unofficial unregistered off-grid CIA operatives embedded in Azov and other select groups in Ukrainian military to this day. Just as there were very probably embedded CIA operatives as well as MI6 operatives in Douma.

Posted by: WJ | Mar 12 2022 15:30 utc | 397

The Ukrainian Nazi troops are holding hostages.
To date, over 7,000 foreign nationals from 21 countries remain hostages of Ukrainian neo-Nazis who continue to hold them as human shields. Round-the-clock work has been organized concerning those foreign nationals with representatives of the involved diplomatic departments”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Mar 12 2022 15:34 utc | 398

Tucker Carlson excerpt from 3/11
Roiling the markets has increased oil prices; higher oil prices benefit Putin, not hurt him. The people hurt are you – Americans.
US actions are threatening the petrodollar standard. The existing financial system benefits us – destroying that hurts us [Americans].

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 12 2022 15:35 utc | 399

@karlof1 | Mar 12 2022 1:12 utc | 225
The article of Thierry Meissan is superficial at best, once more some Jews ruling or attempting to rule the world. He lumps together Leo Strauss, the “Straussians”, the bushist and the liberal Neocons, and ordinary imperialists. All together are indeed a driving force in the US elites striving to subjugate the world or destroying it. It is not to deny or belittle that.
But what Meissan writes is partially shit, partially known stuff sensationalistically rearranged.
Beginning with Leo Strauss, he never engaged in politics. He was very conservative, which is why most of his followers or pupils were conservative, especially in the Reagan era. But most of them did not take political careers, rather worked as historians, philosophers, or social scientists, such as Bernadete, Bloom, Bruell, Cropsey, Storing, and White, or classical languages scholar like his adoptive daughter Jenny Strauss Clay. Like himself, those Strauss scholars were widely apolitical albeit (except Bloom), most of them conservative leaning (most of them not jewish).
The “Straussians” in a narrower sense consisted of Bloom, Wolfowitz, Kristol, and Perle, Bloom the only one with some academic merits, the rest more “inspired” by the decisionist part of Strauss’ philosophy, widely adapted from Nazi law philosopher Carl Schmitt. There is ample reason to regard them more Schmittian than Straussian, lacking the link to ancient philosophy as well as Strauss’ pessimism.
As William Pfaff wrote in 2003 (The Long Reach of Leo Strauss, Int.Herald Tribune, May 12, 2003)

This is obviously a bleak and anti-utopian philosophy that goes against practically everything Americans want to believe. It contradicts the conventional wisdom of modern democratic society. It also contradicts the neoconservatives’ own declared policy ambitions to make the Muslim world democratic and establish a new U.S.-led international order, which are blatantly utopian. […] Strauss’s thought is a matter of public interest because his followers are in charge of U.S. foreign policy. But he is more interesting than they are.

The neocons, renegade trotskyites, are even more shallow. I doubt that Kagen or Nuland ever read Strauss, if they read books at all.
An interesting Straussian or former Straussian is William P. Goldman, vice editor of Asia Times, and famous for his “Spengler” columns. In one of them he mentioned “At that time (Reagan era, he still admires Reagan) we all were Straussians”. Goldman though is a staunch defender of realism and restraint of US foreign politics, and an outspoken critic of neocons (and always worth while a read).
Meyssan misses that all.

Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 12 2022 15:37 utc | 400

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